CHICAGO (AP) — There was a delay in the fourth inning of Friday night’s Boston Red Sox-Chicago White Sox game after three small bottles were thrown toward the field.
A White Sox spokesperson described the bottles as plastic and “travel-sized.” The team said it was investigating, but there were no injuries.
The delay occurred before Paul DeJong batted with runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the fourth.
DeJong said during the White Sox TV broadcast that they were “flying full bottles of liquor.” He said a kid in the front row was hit in the head and had to leave.
Chicago snapped a 14-game losing streak with a 7-2 victory over Boston.
Speaking after the win, White Sox first baseman Andrew Vaughn said he heard a kid was hit.
“I don’t know when that happened,” Vaughn said. “I was on-deck, (Gavin Sheets) was up and heard a loud thud and looked down and there was a little shot glass or something right in front of me.”
White Sox manager Pedro Grifol praised the response by ballpark security.
“I really don’t know where they came from,” Grifol said. “One landed close to me and closer to some fans there. The most important thing is we notified security and they took care of it. We didn’t have anymore issues.”
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jurickson Profar hit consecutive home runs in the first inning and Ha-Seong Kim hit a two-run shot in the sixth for the San Diego Padres, who beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 10-3 Friday night to snap a five-game losing streak.
Profar came through big again in the five-run eighth to blow it open. After Tatis was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Profar cleared them with a double into the right-field corner. Luis Campusano hit an RBI single earlier in the inning to finish with three hits and two RBIs. Donovan Solano added an RBI single that inning.
The Padres had tied their longest losing streak of the season in a 4-3 defeat in the series opener on Thursday night in which they went 1 for 14 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10 runners.
They got off to a fast start in this one against Brandon Pfaadt (2-5). Tatis extended his hitting streak to 13 games with his shot to straightaway center with one out in the first. It was his 11th. Profar followed with his ninth deep into the home run porch in right field. He flipped his bat near first base.
Tatis has reached base in 17 straight games. On Thursday night, he tied the franchise record by getting a hit in eight straight at-bats.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Yainer Diaz homered in his fourth consecutive game and drove in three runs, and Framber Valdez pitched a four-hitter in the Houston Astros’ 7-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night.
Yordan Alvarez hit a tiebreaking three-run double in the five-run seventh inning by the Astros, who opened a weekend series at the Big A with their fifth win in eight games.
Valdez (5-3) struck out eight in his seventh complete game and his first since his no-hitter last August. Valdez frequently dominates the Angels, including three career outings with at least 12 strikeouts along with five victories in eight career starts at Angel Stadium.
Valdez dedicated his performance to teammate Cristian Javier, who had Tommy John surgery this week and won’t return to the mound until late next season at the earliest.
“It’s one of those games for your record, for yourself, for your future, is really good,” Valdez said through an interpreter. “I spoke to Cristian earlier today, and I told him, ‘I’m going to throw a really good game today, because we need it.’”
Valdez didn’t walk a batter until Taylor Ward drew a walk with two outs in the ninth. Manager Joe Espada decided to allow Valdez to face only one more hitter, and shortstop Jeremy Peña made a diving catch on Kevin Pillar’s line drive for the final out.
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — By the time he was old enough to watch NHL games growing up in Sweden, Oliver Ekman-Larsson began dreaming about playing in the Stanley Cup Final.
Now he’s here, a member of the Florida Panthers in a series against the Edmonton Oilers that marks the furthest distance between two teams in a final in NHL history. That would not have mattered to that kid yearning to be in this spot.
“I would probably go back and forth to Sweden if I got a chance to play in the Stanley Cup Final,” he said.
OK, it’s not quite that far, but the 2,543 miles (4,092 kilometers) between the Panthers and Oilers home arenas eclipses the old record set by Vancouver and Boston in 2011 — a series that went the full seven games. Four years after that, the Oilers drafted Connor McDavid in the same home arena they’ll play Game 1 in Saturday night, a full-circle moment for the face of the sport.
“We spend a lot of time on that plane,” McDavid said. “We’re one of the most traveled in the league, so it’s only fitting that we’re going to play in the furthest Stanley Cup Final of all time.”
BOSTON (AP) — The Mavericks couldn’t figure out how best to utilize big man Kristaps Porzingis during his three seasons in Dallas.
Three years later, the Mavericks now have a big Porzingis problem in the NBA Finals.
Dallas coach Jason Kidd said before the start of the series that he didn’t think Porzingis received nearly enough praise for his ability as a shot blocker and someone who can alter opponents’ shots.
The 7-footer did both in his rousing return to the court in Boston’s 107-89 Game 1 victory, while also providing a scoring punch — 20 points in 21 minutes of action — that jumpstarted the blowout.
It was a full display of his skillset by Boston that was never fully used during Porzingis’ time in Dallas.
“He plays his role,” Kidd said. “I think that’s one of the things that’s underrated about KP. When you ask him to do something, he does it. He doesn’t complain about his role. He goes out there and tries to help his team win.”
What’s more, he did it in his first game back after missing more than a month of action because of a strained right calf muscle.
“Even if I have time off, I can jump right back in and I feel the same way,” Porzingis said. “I know how to do this. That’s it, just having that confidence, going out there whatever, first round or Finals, just going out there with full confidence and giving what I have to the team.”